After Sacramento leaders hold impassioned conference, CIF proposes to let Sheldon play
The Sheldon High School boys basketball team will get its chance to play in the CIF Northern California Open Division Regional semifinal game after all.
The two-time defending champions were set to play Dublin on Saturday night at Cosumnes River College, but that highly anticipated game was suddenly scratched after Elk Grove Unified School District officials moved to shut down the entire district down due to concerns that a student in the district might have been exposed to the coronavirus.
That decision, announced in a letter to parents Saturday afternoon, caught parents and elected officials in the Sacramento area completely by surprise.
Disappointed to the point of anger and then tears at hearing their season had abruptly ended on Saturday afternoon, players met at an Elk Grove restaurant. They dined at the same time they were supposed to be taking shots and playing defense against Dublin.
The Sheldon Huskies are the top-ranked team in Northern California and were in the midst of a historically great season. The Huskies were vying to become the first team to three-peat as Northern California Open Division champions, the highest classification in the state.
Moreover, Sheldon is a senior-dominated group which means that the stellar careers of these players would have ended with a forfeit to Dublin caused by the EGUSD decision to close the entire district.
“We stayed united, together,” senior guard Xavion Brown said. “It seems like the district jumped the gun and was too quick to assume we were all at risk of the virus. We’re a lot more optimistic now (after the press conference).”
Many Sheldon parents felt the same way and they made those feelings heard at a Sunday news conference called by Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna. Several expressed outrage that the district could take such a drastic step to close 67 schools serving 64,000 students without their being a single student, teacher or district employee having tested positive for COVID-19.
EGUSD superintendent Chris Hoffman told The Sacramento Bee on Sunday, “For sure we want Sheldon to play. We want the kids to play, but we have to have the information from public health to make sure it’s safe. We’ve been in contact with the CIF since Saturday, trying to figure out a way.”
Hoffman defended his initial stance to cancel all EGUSD events, including Sheldon’s game, saying, “If something happened and someone were to be in contact with one of our schools and something passed on with the virus...we just can’t do that. That’s why we’re still being thorough on this.”
By the end of the press conference, Serna huddled with Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, state Sen. Richard Pan, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, Mayor Pro Tem Angelique Ashby, Assemblyman Jim Cooper, councilman Eric Guerra and Dave Gordon, Superintendent of Sacramento County schools, to call the CIF directly on behalf of Sheldon players.
“We took to heart what the parents had to say,” Serna said.
Steinberg added: “Obviously public health comes first, but there is a lot at stake for our kids.”
So what was worked out was essentially this: Pan said that by Monday morning, it should be known if the student who triggered concerns in Elk Grove has tested positive. If the answer is no, and if other precautions are taken, Sacramento area officials hope the game could go on.
But then CIF officials suddenly announced that the game was on.
The CIF has proposed that Sheldon play at Dublin on Tuesday in a NorCal semifinal with the NorCal finals set for Thursday at Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland.
Yes, Sheldon is the top seed and would have to surrender its home-court advantage, but coach Joey Rollings said, “We just want to play. We’ll play anywhere. We’ll travel. We’re OK with that.”
CIF officials credited Serna, Steinberg and other county officials for their help.
“We had a great call with Mayor Steinberg and (other county leaders),” CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti said. “We absolutely want to see what we can do. We were asked by the Elk Grove Unified School District if we could postpone the tournament a week. We can’t. The tournament is locked in. We’re not in a position to overrule district decisions. But we knew we needed to anticipate a call from the district saying they’re reconsidering, and we started making calls to come up with an alternative playoff schedule. We absolutely want to make this happen, and we’re waiting for additional information from the Elk Grove district.”
Said Ashby: “This is the kind of communication we needed to have in this kind of crisis.”
Said Serna: “In my nearly 10 years in elective office, what has happened in the last 24 hours represents perhaps what is best about serving. ... We worked collaboratively across all levels of government to problem solve for those we represent. Today was a good day.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2020 at 3:52 PM with the headline "After Sacramento leaders hold impassioned conference, CIF proposes to let Sheldon play."
